Tag Archives: bars

Katie: I knew that my parents might have a hard time coming back to Wisconsin after enjoying warm, sunny weather on the beaches of Florida. Fortunately, the snow from Friday melted before they returned, but it’s still pretty chilly here. I decided that something delicious and sweet might help ease the transition. This recipe for Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars from My Baking Addiction looked like the perfect combination of sweet indulgence. I followed the recipe as written, beginning with a graham cracker crust, then a creamy cheesecake layer, and topped with chocolate chip cookie dough. Although the cookie dough layer was a bit tricky to spread, these bars turned out great. I’d like to try these again with peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough!

Matthew: I’m heading out to Patty and Ken’s house this weekend and I wanted to bring along a treat. I was browsing through my Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking book and almost made peanut butter and jelly bars, but I decided to try something new instead. These maple pecan squares were fairly easy to make and didn’t make as much of a mess as I had anticipated. You just bake the crust a little and then add the filling and bake some more. Mine turned out a little gooey in the middle, but that doesn’t make them any less delicious! I think everyone will enjoy these.

Matthew: I made these bars for my mom on Mother’s Day from a recipe over at Smitten Kitchen. The recipe is really quite easy and Deb lists many ingredients that can be added to vary the bars. I thought some Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips would be the perfect addition. I didn’t try them, but I heard that they were tasty. I’ll plan on making them again soon so I can see for myself!

Matthew: While searching through my Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking cookbook, I happened upon a recipe for Black Cherry-Oatmeal Crunch Squares. I had made a note on 3.3.07 that I made the recipe and substituted 1/3 c. peanut butter for a half stick of butter and used a combination of apricot and strawberry jams. This time around, I still used the peanut butter and tried Bonne Maman blackberry preserves which worked out really well. I shared the bars at work and brought some to Chicago for my weekend trip. They were a big hit! And, as you can see in the picture, I had a little left over after filling the pan, so I made an individual serving for myself in a tartlet pan. It went perfectly with vanilla ice cream.